[h3lp m3 please]

i did not know what section to post this in but it all seems to have started from a game i tried. i don't think the game is the issue anymore but it started when the game started crashing.

doing a format of my hard drive and starting again from scrath didn't fix the problem.

most times when i try to start my computer i get lots of graphical corruption. it happens on the boot screen and through all the way to windows desktop. while in the windows desktop the computer tends to be quite slow and often the monitor switches off and on.

i tried ceaning out my computer and and reseating all the components but this had no effect.

i have to try booting my computer multiple times for it to start working. sometimes it works of the first boot.
once it loads fine the computer remains ok for a while (can be more than a hour or as short as 1 minute) and then the corruptions happens.

i haven't seen a fixed trigger but some have been :-
- right clicking on the desktop.
- opening up a second browser (either mozilla firefox or internet explorer. either one can cause it).
- opening up a web page.
- one of them used to be the game
- watching a video on windows media player. (didn't happen with divx yet)

either something has become corrupted or some piece of my hardware has possibly died on me.
the problem started when my game crashed a few times.

Edited by h3lp m3 please, 14 April 2007 - 08:31 AM.

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Hi h3lp m3 please
Have you tried making sure all wires are in tight at the back and are your Drivers are updated and Esspecially the Graphics Card Driver's ETC as this can cause Problems And is the Drive in Question an External or internal one you could if External unplug it reboot and see if that makes a Difference you could also check that the Fan inside Working OK as the Graphics Card could be to Hot see if this Helps and let me know. Good Luck


Cheyenne 09

Edited by cheyenne 09, 14 April 2007 - 02:39 PM.

[cheyenne 09]

Hi h3lp m3 please
Have you tried making sure all wires are in tight at the back and are your Drivers are updated and Esspecially the Graphics Card Driver's ETC as this can cause Problems And is the Drive in Question an External or internal one you could if External unplug it reboot and see if that makes a Difference you could also check that the Fan inside Working OK as the Graphics Card could be to Hot see if this Helps and let me know. Good Luck


Cheyenne 09

Edited by cheyenne 09, 14 April 2007 - 02:39 PM.

[h3lp m3 please]

all the wires are fine in the back. the problem started after command and conquer 3 tiberium wars crashed on me multiple times.

my hard drive is internal and also i did a clean up with my computer yesterday. i cleaned out all of the dust from the boards, fans and the inside of the computer casing.

im using the leadtech geforce 6800GT which has an extrodinary heatsink

all my drivers are the latest. i just now cleared the cmos. maybe this will fix it. if anything comes up i'll post asap

[h3lp m3 please]

it happened again but after the clearing of the cmos it no longer happens from boot.

it triggered this time by me accessing a web page after i logged in. then i rebooted and tried the same thing but it didn't show corruptions on the second time

[Titan8990]

The battery could be dead, I would try replacing it.

[h3lp m3 please]

well the computer has become alot more stable after reseting the cmos.

i've seen two graphical error so far but they no longer bring the whole computer down. once happened in a web page. before the reseting the cmos the computer would become slow and the monitor may shut off and all i could do is hit the off button and hope that the computer will shut down correctly. now i just close the web page and thats the end of that.

i don't think its a permanent fix but it does make the computer more usable.

Titan8990 : if the cmos battery was dead then wouldn't i have to reconfigure the time on my computer every time i start it up. secondly my brothers computer has a dead battery and every time he starts it up it says checksum error (i know how to fix his computer) . this computer does not do that i think. i'll look out for it next time i start the computer

[Titan8990]

Yes it will often give a checksum error when either your battery is dead or you just reset the cmos. You wouldn't be required to reset the date and time when you started up but it would move back to a default day and time which is what is known to cause problems.

I would closely inspect your motherboard for any signs of heat damage.

Edited by Titan8990, 15 April 2007 - 12:03 PM.

[h3lp m3 please]

im not getting any of those so i don't think my battery is dead. reinstalling everything did not help so i am thinking either the bios needs updating, fixing correcting, reinstalling or whatever.

my mother board is a asrock p4dual 880pro. so do you know i would go about reinstalling the bios or updating it. i am pretty sure this is different thing to resetting the cmos.

also does the graphics card have a way of resetting itself. if so then how?

finally if none of these help then i need to get back to the drawing board for more ideas.

i don't think the problem could be hardware since i am able to use the computer some of the time and while it is working it works fine. i have not eliminated it is the factor though. i also sent an email to EA since their game started all this. the game did cause this and after formatting my c:\ the problem still persist. since it was the game that caused it i believe it is software related.

games cannot mash up hard ware. can they?

[Titan8990]

Games are the most stressful things on your PC. If it was to cause damage to your hardware it would be through heat. I have never changed a BIOS myself but I would check out the ASUS website.

[cheyenne 09]

Hi h3lp m3 please
Sorry i haven't been able to get back to you but i am having issues with my firewall and the Internet and can't get on the net for long anyway i noticed that you have more than one Post here and it looks like your issues could be linked as for the Memory Problem i had a similar Problem with one of my Games and i Installed New Memory as the Game Needed 1GB To Run so it is now working as i Upgraded to 2 GB of Ram and Titan8990 is right about the games being stressful on your PC. Especially New Games as they need Memory and resources to run them so Possibly you could think of Upgrading your Memory anyway as that might help some of your issues with the Game Crashing. Good Luck


Cheyenne 09

Edited by cheyenne 09, 16 April 2007 - 03:31 PM.

[h3lp m3 please]

i was able to find my old agp ati radeon 9000 graphics card. i took out my pcie geforce 6800gt and replaced it with the ati one.

suddenly all the windows problems were resolved. i still haven't tried that game again yet.
so the problem is either :-

- the graphics card is now scrap
- the psu is no longer working properly and not providing enough power to it
- the pci-e slot is messed up.

the radeon card does not require the extra power from the 6pin plug like the geforce card which may mean that there is a possiblity of the psu being messed up. this could also explain why the computer has restarted itself a few times.

im going to test the geforce card in a friends computer to help confirm the problem.

if it was the graphics card or psu then i am going to have a word EAgames because their tiberium wars game pretty much broke it.

[cheyenne 09]

Hi h3lp m3 please
So it sounds like your Graphics Card might be faulty is there a Difference in the Memory on the Graphics Card as that can make a Difference as well Retry the Game and let us know how you get on. Good Luck


Cheyenne 09

[h3lp m3 please]

it does seem that the graphics card may be the culprit but i am not going to eliminate the other posibilities straight away either.

the radeon card is 128mb and my geforce is 256mb.

my brother wont even let me try it with the radeon card because he doesn't want to risk this card crapping up either. the geforce card crapped up because of the game (i think) or it was just unlucky coinsidence.

i have never seen a game destroy hardware before so i am kinda hoping it was coincidence.

i'll have the card tested in another computer by the end of the week.

im back uni tomorrow and the computer i got there will definitly run the game.
AMD X2 64 4600+
2GB PC3200 ram
256mb geforce 7900gt